Masbateños worry over 2016 polls

MASBATE CITY: Ten months before the 2016 national and local polls in the country, the Masbate Advocate for Peace (MAP) expressed apprehension for possible bloody political exercise in the island province of Masbate.

Judge Igmedio Emilio F. Camposano, chairman of MAP, a group of professionals, businessmen, lawyers and physicians working in private and government offices had a dialogue with Chief Supt. Victor Deona on Sunday evening at Rendezvous Hotel and Restaurant in Masbate city.

The group expressed concern that the upcoming 2016 polls would be marred by violence, as four powerful politicians vying for gubernatorial post will be facing head on.

“It’s been 50 years that political violence has been going on in Masbate. Before, the PNP and Army were used by the politicians as goons. There are four personalities interested in the gubernatorial post all equipped with machinery,” said Camposano, presiding Judge of Municipal Circuit Trial Court of Aroroy and Baleno.

“Today we’re apprehensive with the attitude in Masbate that whenever there are promising new leaders in the province and in the municipalities the so-called elimination or ‘purging’ of emerging leaders is being done along the way for the new generation of leaders not to thrive,” he told The Manila Times.

Currently, four personalities expressed their interest to run for the gubernatorial post such as former governor Antonio Kho, jailed governor Rizalina Llanete, who is currently facing a plunder suit implicated in Napoles multi-billion scam, former First District Representative now San Fernando Mayor Bong Bravo and acting governor Vicente Homer Revil of Liberal Party.

Camposano said that the worst case scenario in Masbate is that there would be more election-related violence like killing and proliferation of private armed groups to sow terror for political advantage.

Every election, Masbate province is placed under Commission on Elections control with the long history as a political hotspot because of the high incidence of election-related violence.